Playing for Hearts (4 page)

He'd never had trouble getting his head in the game before, but yesterday he'd fumbled with the balls, tripped over the toe of his sneakers, and one time completely missed a serve. It had taken all his concentration to keep from sporting the biggest erection in his life while on the court. At the end of the hour-long lesson, he'd been lightheaded and sweating like a pig.

What he needed to do was call up one of his standby women and lose himself in an afternoon of sex.

He enjoyed going through women the way he did tennis shoes. One-nighters, a couple hours together, a midnight rendezvous entertained and satisfied him. Long-term relationships were for other people, not him. With his kind of lifestyle, he didn't have time for love.

The Shauna that'd returned to Cottage Grove was different, but he could still see past the fake confidence. She tottered between total seductress and naïve girl next door. There was no way he could ignore the way her hands had shaken and how her breath had come in small gasps this afternoon. His whole psyche wanted to comfort her, and welcome her back with open arms. The chemistry between them had the ability to explode if he allowed it.

She'd made his life hell. As someone in the public eye, he'd gone to great strains not to allow the media to misread their relationship, which hadn't always been easy. She was stubborn, foolish, and lived in her own dreamed up world.

Still, he couldn't help appreciating her for all her eccentricity.

She'd always gone out of her way to say something nice, bake him cookies, or even sit outside on the steps at the center and babble on about the silliest thing in a time of his life when he'd needed the distraction. He'd looked forward to those times together with her, because the diversion kept him from dwelling on everything lacking in his own life.

Their friendship had seemed innocent. He was a messed up young adult, shoved into a life playing tennis with no direction off the court. Shauna had seemed to sense when he needed her the most, and he took her friendship, soaking up everything good about her to keep himself sane. With her, he could say what he wanted, laugh over her goofiness without fear of the cameras catching something on his face or in his words that he didn't want them to see.

When his parents showed no incentive to attend his matches, she'd cheered louder than anyone. He wasn't just a ranking, a bragging right, a cash machine with her. She'd honestly wanted to support him for the sole purpose of seeing him win.

After his parents died, she'd showed up more often. Most times, she'd sit with him at the center, not saying a word, silently comforting him in a way his managers and fans couldn't. With her, he had never been alone.

It was during those sweet moments with her that he'd felt normal. To everyone else, his friendship with Shauna had bordered on improper. He'd been her coach and too old to form a friendship with someone under the age of eighteen. The others in town had never understood that despite the age gap, despite the difference in their lifestyle, despite the trouble Shauna caused, they'd bonded on the most basic level. He'd needed her as much as she needed him.

She was headstrong and impulsive. He admired the way she could thumb her nose at everyone in town and dance to her own beat. Something he wanted to do many times since the age of eight, when others had already planned his life course for him. He had managers that came and went, lessons, camps, tutors who traveled the world with him, and all he'd wanted to do was shuck off all his responsibility and go fishing. He scoffed. Okay, maybe not fishing, but he definitely wanted to do whatever caught his interest at the time.

Even now, when he could do anything he wanted, he still clung to what was familiar. He was too set in his ways, and scared of forging out from under the umbrella of fame, to take another chance. When would he ever have the freedom to do what he wanted?

Going by what she'd proposed this morning, Shauna was still the same girl, only smarter. He groaned and placed his arm on his forehead. Except, Shauna wasn't an innocent anymore and he could see the advantages of working with her to help boost Cottage Grove's economy. A large part of him wanted her to pull him into whatever kind of trouble she was creating.

Was he crazy? He knew why he couldn't become involved with Shauna. It would be too irresponsible of him. He lived fast and furious. He'd only end up hurting her.

Before she'd left town, he'd been too old for her, too experienced. Now that he was thirty-one years old, he had everything: money, status, fame, and women. Relationships came and went, exactly the way he liked them.

The last thing he needed in his life was Shauna. But then why couldn't he get her out of his mind?

A soft knock jolted him out of his thoughts. He remained stretched out in the chair. “The door's unlocked.”

Speak of the devil. Shauna stepped inside the opened doorway, looking tempting and fresh. “I thought I'd hand deliver the plans to you personally on my way home for the day.”

She wore a tight, black skirt that skimmed the middle of her thighs. She'd swept her black hair over her left shoulder, but the strands didn't hide the way her low-cut blouse strained against her full breasts. Her chest rose and fell, and he rubbed his lips together. She'd stayed away from him for exactly three and a half hours.

“Why are you glowering at me?” Shauna raised the folder and held it protectively in front of her.

“What are you doing here?” He glanced up at her face. “Come to take me up on my offer?”

“No.” She stepped over and sat the information down on his desk. “I already told you. I came to drop off the information I promised you. I finished earlier than I'd planned, and you mentioned the tight deadline, so I thought I'd jump on it. Call me efficient.”

“You have a fax machine.” He answered her more abrasively than necessary. “Next time, you can call my secretary and she'll give you the number, unless you want to swing by and replay the last time you knocked on my office door sans clothes.”

She crossed her arms. “I'm going to ignore that comment. I assumed it would be easier to stop in and deliver them since I'm staying with my dad and I pass the tennis center on the way home, but next time I won't.”

He sat up and shrugged. “Fine.”

She scoffed.

“What'd you make that noise for?”

“You. I thought you forgave me for all the things I used to put you through but apparently, you're still holding it against me. I thought bigger of you.” She licked her lips. “At one time, you were the only thing that kept me sane after my mom left. When I couldn't go to my dad, I threw myself into my lessons and spent every spare moment at the center. I thought we were friends. I might have been a little incorrigible — ”

“A little?” He laughed. “Do you have any idea how many of my girlfriends you chased away?”

She waved off his question. “You weren't serious about any of them. Besides, I was doing you a favor.”

“Some favor.” He shook his head. “What about the time you packed a picnic basket and insisted I join you outside for lunch?”

“I was sixteen, Grayson.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “All you had to do was say no.”

“You asked me in the middle of a press conference!” He narrowed his eyes. “I had to go to lunch with you, or be verbally whipped every time I stepped out of the house by reporters wanting to know what was going on between us. Do you know what kind of light that would've cast over my career if they found out how you … you wanted me? I was twenty-three years old. The press would've nailed me to the billboard on the edge of town if they even thought I was returning your affection.”

“I — ”

“If that wasn't bad enough, you asked the camera guys to film the whole picnic. What kind of person does such a thing?” He waited for her to answer.

“Well, then, I apologize,” she whispered.

“Listen, sweetheart.” He stood up and stepped in front of her. “Maybe having us work together isn't such a good idea.”

A gleam of deviltry flashed in her eyes. “Why? Because I drove you nuts when I was younger? How many times must I say I'm sorry … for my past?”

“You stalked me.”

“Which I've apologized for many times over. Maybe you're the one having problems forgiving and forgetting.” She glanced away. “Don't make me sound crazy. You were there. You felt it too.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Do you still have all those pictures of me you cut out of magazines stapled above your bed?”

“No.” Shauna's gaze flickered to the window, and her hesitation amused him.

“Shauna … ” He leaned down, until his lips were inches from her mouth. “It'd be good between us. You're no longer a little girl, and I'm not a man who plays games. Nothing will stop me. I have no problem with taking you right here, on top of my desk, for the whole town to see. You're no longer an eighteen-year-old girl wanting to lose her virginity — there's nothing stopping me from taking what I see in your eyes.”

“My eyes?”

“Mmhm.” His nostrils flared. “I see how your eyelids flutter and your pupils dilate every time I step close to you.”

“They do?” She raised her hand to her cheek.

“You have this little habit of catching your lower lip between your teeth, and staring at my mouth as if you want to lean forward and — ”

“I do not!” She clamped her lips closed.

“Oh yeah, I'd have no problems taking what you offer me, right now.” He cocked his head. “Twice.”

“You would not.”

“Try me.”

“You seem to have a faulty memory, because I've asked you before. You chickened out. A woman doesn't forget when a man tells her no, especially when she's stripped bare, emotionally and physically.” She stepped around him, but he called out her name before she could slink away. “What?”

He paused, but he never stopped looking at her. “I remember. I remember every little detail about that night. I remember how willing you were to give me your body.”

“Then you walked away and called my dad.”

He nodded. “Biggest mistake of my life.”

“I was crushed.”

“I know.” He sighed. “Maybe I can make up for hurting your feelings.”

“By having sex with me now?” She laughed harshly. “I don't think so.”

“Do you have a ticket to McMillian's Vineyard for Saturday?”

“Grayson, don't be a jerk,” she whispered. “You know how much I've always wanted to go. It's the biggest event of the summer, but my social standing in Cottage Grove hasn't changed. Heading the Chamber of Commerce isn't exactly living the high life on Knob Hill. Don't tease me.”

“I never tease. That's something you should learn.” He picked a ticket off the top of his desk, and handed it over to her. “Call it a welcome home gift.”

“T-thank you.” She stared at the white slip of paper with gold writing. “Are you going to the function?”

“I might show up.” He sat down at the desk and propped his feet on the top. “It depends on if my date wants to waste her time going to a silly party instead of spending time with me … alone.”

She blushed a rosy pink, which set his blood on fire. He could almost hear her thoughts, and he smirked. She wanted him, but she had no idea how to go about it. In fact, he'd bet a thousand bucks that if he put the moves on her, she'd run out the door.

“Are you taking Stephanie?” She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth.

He crossed his arms across his chest and raised his brows. He could play her game. If she wanted to pretend she didn't come back for him, he'd make her work for it. “Does the thought of me dating Stephanie bother you? This is the second time you've mentioned her.”

“No!” She frowned.

“I think you protest too much.” He shooed her out of the room. “You might have everyone else fooled that you're all grown up, but not me. I'm not going to protect your feelings anymore, Shauna. I want you. I've always wanted you.”

“But, you — ”

He held up his hand. “I only go out with women who can handle me sexually — and you want a commitment and a happily ever after. I live for the moment, because it really doesn't matter to me what happens tomorrow. If you don't want to play with fire, stay away.”

Without replying, she was out the door and gone. He dropped into the chair. The hell of it was that he was fiercely attracted to her. She was a beautiful woman, but he wasn't willing to break her heart.

On Friday night, it seemed as if a quarter of the population of Cottage Grove was gathered inside the Quayside Lounge. It was the first time since returning that Shauna was able to meet up with her best friends, Kate Johnson and Diana Spencer, in their old hang out. But this time, she was walking through the doors being of legal age.

Ha! Like her age had ever stopped her from wearing her sexiest blouse and top-of-the-thigh mini skirt at seventeen years old. She couldn't count the number of times she'd snuck into the lounge, acting as if she owned the place, with one purpose on her mind: to keep tabs on Grayson, and show him she was mature enough to be his girlfriend.

A shiver of nervousness skittered up her spine and she raked her teeth over her bottom lip. He'd changed in the years since she'd seen him last. He'd always been confident and sexier than any man should be allowed, but she'd noticed a new sexual prowess in him that made her nervous, excited, and every emotion in between. She hadn't been able to resist her attraction to him back then, and yesterday's meetings had proven to her that she wasn't immune to him now.

For a brief moment, she wondered if she'd get lucky tonight and Grayson would stop in at the Quayside. No, that would be bad. She had to stay strong if she was going to prove her worth to the town. Whatever happened, she was here to connect with her friends, not Grayson.